Short rails for bedsteads



'P 1955 J. H. DE BOER 2,

SHORT RAILS FOR BEDSTEADS Filed Aug. 26, 1955 IN VEN TOR.

:[Henry fleBoer .parative lightness of material.

United States SHORT RAILS FOR BEDSTEADS John Henry De Boer, Syracuse, N. Y.; Marine Midland Trust Company of Central New York and Benjamin E. Shove, executors of said John Henry De Boerydeceased, assignors to De Boer Manufacturing Company, Inc., Syracuse, N. Y., a corporation of New York Application August 26, 1953, Serial No. 376,575

2 Claims. 01. 5-287) My invention relates to short rails for bedsteads; and

is an improvement on the construction-set forth in my Patent No. 991,049, dated May 2, 1911. As set forth in that patent, the invention relates to that class of bedstead side rails which are madeshort in length for the purpose simply of temporarily locking the footboardand head-board together in their natural upright In my preferred form of construction, I form this frame of steel, in order to combine adequate strength with com- In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a side elevation showing the foot-board and head-board of a bedstead in section, as

held together by my improved short bed-rail.

Fig. 4 is a broken perspective'of the frameof the de- 40 vice when formed of steel in order toobtain thegreatest degree of strength with the greatest degree-of lightness of material.

The numeral 1 indicates the rectangularifr-ame as a whole.

The outer faces of the ends of this frame are flat to adapt them for flat engagement with the vertical facesof the head and footboards.

In each end of this frame is a central slot 2;and extending through these slots are the shanks of the respective hooks 3 having prolonged inner-end portions 3a rounded and threaded in opposite directions, and connected with a turnbuckle 4, normally supported thereon centrally within the frame of the short rail.

The hooks, when in operation, are designed to project outwardly at equal distances from the ends of the short rail and have their outer ends facing downwardly.

The manner of using the device is clearly shown in Fig. 1, in which the hooks 3 extend into the usual slots in the legs of the bed, and engage over transverse pins 5, anchored in said legs. When thus arranged, the turnbuckle may be rotated in a direction to lessen the distance between the hooks, and thus clamp the legs firmly against the flat end walls of the short rail, and thus hold the footboard and headboard firmly together in an upright position.

In removing the device, it is simply necessary to lessen the turnbuckle sufficiently to permit the hooks to be lifted off the pins 5, whereupon the device may be detached by simply lifting the rail sufficiently to disconnect the hooks from the pins of the bed post.

It will be observed that the shanks of the hooks are 2,717,398 Batented Sept. 13, 1955 hat, and that the openings therefor in the'ends of the rail frame are shaped to loosely fit them, so that the shanks, though adapted "for free longitudinal movement in said .=holes, will be held against. rotatable movement therein, wvherebyto normally hold the hooks in a downwardlyfaeingtposition.

-As thus .far described, my present invention is similar .to my previous patent already referred to: but experience .hasproved-that the-nature and'use of the device requires that itwould, when in use, he very largely in the hands ,of people who have 'no mechanical experience, and who are often devoid of mechanical aptitudes, so that the hooks are often broken by unskilled servants and em .ployees in their awkward attempts to properlyattach the short :rails to the beds with which they are desired to be used. And this, in-turn, requires that new hooks should be supplied to take the place of those that were broken. While new hooks could be very easily obtained andsup- ;plied,"the fact that one hook had right-hand threads and the other-left-hand threads, required considerable skill in getting thetwoxhooksproperly adjusted relatively to .each other through a proper manipulation of 'the turnbuckle dealing with right-hand :threads at one end and lefthand'threads atthe'other.

With inexperienced persons it usually happened that when the turnbuckle was'properly rotated'to bring one of the hooks into the desired position, the other hook was .rotated out of proper relative position thereto.

It is the object of the present improvement to simplify the manipulation ofthe device by providing means where- =by each hook may be rotated in the turnbuckle into the desired position therein without simultaneously therewith changing the position of the otherhookrelatively'to the -turnbuckle. In other words, the present improvement provides means for adjusting one hook at a time in the turnbuckle, without in any way simultaneously therewith, effecting the ,position of the other hook relatively :to its endoftheturnbuckle.

All of the -defeets, of whatever nature,in the operation of the original patent grow out of thetfact' that theadjust- .tmenttof thetwo hooks relatively to each otherhave :to be .made,by'the rotation of the turnbuckle acting simultameously on bothQPPositely-threaded hooks. :thegpresentarrangement permits the adjustment of:each hook-relatively tothe-other withoutrehangingtthe relation of the other hook -.to-.the--;turnbuckle, said objectionable :features are entirely avoided.

x-Thisifinishing touch to theconst-ruction of the device is effected by very s'imple means most :clear'ly illustrated in Fig. 4 of the drawings where .theshankslotsl in the ends of the frame have alined slots 6 leading thereinto from one edge of the frame.

As shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings, these slots 6 are Wider than the diameters of the threaded innerend portions of the hooks 3, but are of less width than the shanks of the hooks, the result of which is that by a proper manipulation of the turnbuckb, the shanks of the hooks may be spaced so far apart that the threaded part of one of the hooks may be thrust out into the slot 2, as illustrated inFig. 2, of the drawings: and since this threaded portion of the hook is of less diameter than the width of the slot 6, it may be lifted out of said slot at the left end of the rail. And then the turnbuckle and the hooks carried thereby may be moved bodily to the right to bring the threaded portion of the other hook into the similar slot 6 at the right-hand end of the frame: and then that hook can be lifted out of the frame. 1

The fact that one of the hooks has a right-hand thread, and the other a left-hand thread; and that accordingly, the two ends of the turnbuckle must be oppositely threaded, makes it absolutely necessary to assemble said four parts (the two oppositely-threaded stems of the hooks, and the And since two oppositely-threaded ends of theturnbuckle), always in an exact and unvarying relative position to each other. And this must be done in spite of the fact that the threads in the turnbuckle are practically out of'sight. Simple as it may appear at first sight, this, in reality, becomes a tedious and exacting task beyond the capacity of the ordinary man or woman. And hence, as a consequence, this fact becomes a serious drawback to the use of the device described and illustrated in the original patent; because if a hook were broken, it required an expert mechanic to properly replace it with another. But the present improvement does away with that ditficulty in an extremely simple and effective way; since itprovides for easily adjusting the hooks and turnbuckle relatively to each other before they are introduced into the frame of the device; so that a broken hook can be easily replaced by a new book properly related to the other hook and turnbuckle.

In other words, when it comes to assembling the different parts of the device, as set forth in the original patent, the frame itself becomes a ditlicult factor in the problem thus presented.

But the present application sets forth a combination which cancels all that was objectionable in that previous combination, and solves the problem by eliminating its objectionable factor.

With the present arrangement, the complete tightening device can be easily removed, as a unit, from the frame, in which case its parts are easily adjustable relatively to each other; and it is as easy to restore it to its proper place in the frame, as it was to remove it therefrom.

The advantage of this is that when a hook or turnbuckle breaks, it is a very simple matter to replace it with a similar new piece without changing the relative adjusted arrangement of any of the parts directly connected with it. This is quite an improvement over the construction shown in the original patent, in which if a hook or turnbuckle breaks, the broken member cannot be prop erly replaced independently of the relative arrangement of all the other parts.

With this new arrangement, dealers are encouraged to write for new hooks and turnbuckles Whenever needed; and can correctly assemble these new parts when received, without any difliculty.

Another advantage is that the hooks and turnbuckles can be assembled at the factory where they are manufactured, much more easily than by the old method which required the operator to first pass the threaded ends of the hooks inwardly through the ends of the frames, and

connect them there with the turnbuckle.

A further advantage of my device, as now set forth, is that its construction and operation is reduced to such simplicity that its parts may be shipped unassembled to jobbers and wholesalers, if they so desire.

I claim: v

l. A device of the character described, comprising an open rail frame having a vertical flat opening in each of its end walls: a pair of downwardly-turned hooks having flat shank portions extending inwardly through said fiat openings, and terminating'at their inner ends in portions of reduced width: means connecting said reduced portions for moving the hooks inwardly and outwardly through said flat openings in the respective end walls of the frame, to form a tightening device for the rail; each of the vertical flat openings in the ends of the frame having a slot leading laterally outward therefrom through the edge of the frame, each of said outlet slots being of a width greater than the width of the reduce-d inner ends of the shanks of the hooks, whereby when the hooks are thrust outwardly sufiiciently to bring their reduced inner end-portions into said flat openings in the ends of the frame, the entire tightening device can be lifted bodily out of the frame through said outlet slots, to permit the independent adjustment of each member of the tightening device relativeto the other members thereof.

2. A side rail for bedsteads comprising an open rail frame having a vertical flat opening in each of its end walls; a pair of downwardly-turned hooks having flat shank portions extending inwardly through said flat openings, and terminating at their inner ends in rounded portions of reduced width and screw-threaded in opposite directions; and a turnbuckle connecting said threaded pot tions for simultaneously moving the hooks either in wardly or outwardly through said openings in the ends of the frame; said turnbuckle and the parts connected therewith, forming tightening means for the device; each of said openings in the ends of the frame having a slot leading laterally outward therefrom through the edge of the frame, said lateral-outlet slots being of-a greater width than the width of the reduced threaded ends of the shanks of the hooks, whereby when the hooks are turned outwardly sufficiently to bring their reduced threaded portions into said elongated shank openings in the ends of the frame, the entire tightening device can be lifted bodily out of said openings through the slots leading into them from the edge of the frame, whereby the parts of the tightening device may be individually adjusted relatively to each other without the interference occasioned by their normal connection with the frame.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Norris Aug. 15, 1933 

